by Debbie Walker

I want to write about what I believe is a very simple subject. I thought it was anyway. I made the mistake of looking it up on the internet. Sometimes things just go a little too far. So I will tell you tonight what I captured from something called “Coffee Cups and Crayons.” On their website it is explained as: “Any act of kindness no matter how big or small can make a difference – especially where done intentionally”.

Random Acts of Kindness is a phrase used in the school where I volunteer. It is a positive phrase that all our children understand.

These acts of kindness have been used for something funny. We had the Candy Cane Swoop just before Christmas. Mrs. C’s first-grade class snuck out of the building into the teacher’s parking lot. Each child had a hand-made tag and a candy cane to place on a teacher’s car. Needless to say there were smiles that day as the teachers drove out of the parking lot.

Acts of kindness can be as simple as holding a door open for someone. Because I have a problem with my knee I walk slower than a group of first graders. Every walk we take one of the children come to me to walk with me. It’s a kindness indeed.

As teachers we are trying to notice and acknowledge each act of kindness the children do. They share things, they help each other, and they willingly help others in school. Needless to say we are hoping that it continues once they leave the school.

I was sitting here tonight dreaming up some more activities we could promote from within the classroom for the students to be involved in. I do have a few ideas and if you are interested I will pass on the activities as they happen over the months to come.

I would like to pass on this thought to you all. I worked in a convenience store for a short time and I noticed something that was a little sad. You know there are some people who complain and can be rather nasty to others. Yup, right in front of their children. The same people wondered the next day, “How did my child become so rude?” I could tell them.

Just because we don’t have a child attached to us at the hip does not mean we are not teaching children. They are like some of our video cameras. The kids are recording us even though we are not aware of it happening. They are recording both good and not so good deeds. Truthfully we are ALL teachers.

This “Random Acts of Kindness” is catching. Try some of your own ideas and see if it doesn’t give YOU a better day. Please be sure to do it with heart!

by Jeff LaCasse
Kennebec Water District

Information and communications – ARI project, KWD, and China Lake

As third party observers, KWD staff sees some facets of the ARI project on Outlet Stream from a different perspective than many ARI members. We feel we have information and access to some resources that we can share that could aid in facilitating some planning and avoiding some potential issues – either structural or financial – in the project’s scope and implementation. We have, especially recently with the appointment of Matt Streeter, relatively good communications with ARI on ongoing project issues. We do feel, however, that there has been some misinformation being presented in discussions related to the project that is not fact based.

One issue that we have been having is that we have noticed on more and more frequent occasions that information is being disseminated in various forums that is incorrect. Some assertions have been repeated enough that they are frequently being considered factual. We feel it is a disservice to the public to put this information out there as it may lead to expectations that are unfounded and criticisms of some, including KWD, that are unwarranted. We feel we have information that can correct some of the miscommunications, increase trust, and keep all parties working cooperatively together. We also feel the information may help keep unexpected situations to a minimum.

KWD has been using China Lake as its water source since 1905 (currently serving 30,000+ people) and has collected data on the lake from 1903 to present. That data includes lake levels, water quality measurements, Outlet Dam specifications, and personal observations. We have been operating the Outlet Dam for the Town of Vassalboro since 2009. Operations are required to meet the regulatory guidelines of the China Lake water level and streamflow order of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

7 frequently repeated, but incorrect assertions with corrected information from KWD:

1. KWD opposes the reintroduction of alewives in China Lake.

We are actually neutral on the project, which we consider a fish restoration project. We were early proponents of trying to determine whether or not alewives would help the lake’s water quality. We lead early efforts to investigate what would be required for passage and the potential impacts of alewife restoration on the water quality of the lake. We worked through CRLA on the Seward Mills project to allow migration into Three Mile with the intent to use that as a pilot project. We reviewed impacts on both Webber and Three Mile in an attempt to extrapolate whether or not any impacts might be projected to China Lake. Our position is that we do not oppose the fish restoration and we will assist the project with technical knowledge and data sharing as appropriate, but we will not support the project financially. As a public water utility we have a massive infrastructure that needs maintenance and replacement and we do not have discretionary funds to support a project that we do not believe will provide our ratepayers with a tangible benefit. Our bottom line is we feel this is a fish restoration project, not a water quality improvement project.

2. The alewife project will result in noticeable water quality improvement in China Lake.

We have written documentation of past statements by the Department of Environmental Protection, the prior director of Maine Rivers, and several others that have brought forth the same message that alewife “most probably will not affect water quality”. This contention is also backed by many scientific publications.

The anecdotal reports of improved water quality on Webber and Three Mile Ponds are encouraging, but we feel there are other factors influencing the improved water quality in those lakes. There has been no scientific study evaluating the individual measurable impacts of alewives, annual drawdown flushing, and other nutrient control practices on the water quality in those water bodies. Many other Maine lakes with long term alewife migrations have seen no water quality improvement.

We did extensive literature review of the impacts of restoration projects on water quality in other water bodies and commissioned a study of our own to determine the potential impacts on China Lake – based on its individual characteristics. The basic conclusion of the study was “alewife does not cause water quality problems in lakes and ponds in Maine” and “there is little evidence that restoring alewife is a panacea for accelerating the recovery of eutrophic lakes.” The report did emphasize that alewife restoration will contribute to an improved ecosystem (which does not equal improved water quality), and we feel that is important.

There are multiple factors that impact water quality in lakes and multiple factors that can contribute to improving that quality. China Lake is different from other lakes. The most limiting factor in water quality improvement in China is its configuration and resultant slow flushing rate. Much of the phosphorus impacting water quality in China Lake is phosphorus that is linked to an internal recycling process within the lake. This internal phosphorus is in addition to phosphorus that comes from sources within the watershed. The fact that it takes over two years to flush the lake makes quickly removing large quantities of phosphorus from the lake impossible.

Even if there is a “net export” of phosphorus by exiting juvenile alewives as promised by some, the amount of P that needs to be removed to result in noticeable water quality improvements within the lake is substantially more than would be expected via alewife outmigration.

Although we feel the odds are very small, we certainly hope that we are wrong about the lack of positive impact on water quality from alewives which will result in a noticeable improvement in water quality. Many in the public have been convinced by ARI proponents that the restoration will reverse the eutrophication of China Lake, but we feel that to guarantee that there will be noticeable water quality improvements via the reintroduction is disingenuous. At best, we feel that a message that “it is hoped that the alewife reintroduction will be a contributor to water quality improvements in China Lake” would be more appropriate and temper public expectations.

3. The report that KWD commissioned to project impacts on China Lake’s water quality from alewife reintroduction states that the alewives will improve water quality.

This is a specific point that has been made in some forums and we feel it should be addressed separately from #2 above. The specific point of the study was to project if there would be any positive or negative impacts to the water quality of China Lake as a result of the reintroduction. As noted in #2, the study concludes “alewife does not cause water quality problems in lakes and ponds in Maine” and “there is little evidence that restoring alewife is a panacea for accelerating the recovery of eutrophic lakes.”

An “improved ecosystem” is not the same as water quality. The report concluded alewife restoration should contribute to an improved ecosystem, which relates more to a more robust top-to-bottom food chain.

4. This year’s exceptional water quality in China Lake is due to alewife introduction.

A statewide phenomenon, one that has been examined by several in the scientific community this year and in the past is that lack of precipitation is responsible for the improved water quality in almost all Maine lakes in 2016 (“Drought years led to increase in Secchi depths”). China Lake has had better water quality than in any year since 1999 (via measurable water quality parameters). Other lakes are reporting their best water quality since the 1970’s. The simple fact is that the much lower than normal amount of precipitation provided much less opportunity for runoff and movement of nutrients into China Lake. Alewives were not even exiting China Lake until early September, so any “net export” of phosphorus by out-migrating alewives in 2016 would certainly not have impacted the spring/summer/fall water quality in the lake.

5. The fall drawdown of China Lake was instituted to allow out-migration of alewives.

Alewife reintroduction played no part at all in the annual drawdown proposal. In fact, KWD was the applicant to DEP to institute the annual drawdown process. That application followed a report commissioned by KWD to determine if an annual drawdown would contribute to reducing the in-lake phosphorus level. The report detailed the expected outflow of phosphorus in kilograms and the optimal timeframe in which to conduct the drawdown. Alewives were not a consideration in this process to any degree. The drawdown was intended to be a tool to help improve water quality within the lake while not negatively impacting any of the criteria listed as essential in the Maine DEP’s Regulation of Water Levels and Minimum Flows,

(Those criteria are: a. water levels necessary to maintain public rights of access to and use of the water for navigation, fishing, fowling, recreation and other lawful public uses, b. levels necessary to protect the safety of littoral or riparian proprietors and the public, c. water levels and minimum flow requirements necessary for the maintenance of fish and wildlife habitats and water quality, d. water levels necessary to prevent excessive erosion of shorelines, e. water levels necessary to accommodate precipitation and run off of waters, f. water levels necessary to maintain public and private water supplies, g. the water levels and flows necessary for any ongoing use of the dam to generate or to enhance downstream generation of hydroelectric or hydromechanical power and h. water levels necessary to provide flows from any dam on the body of water to maintain public use and access and use, fish propagation and fish passage facilities, fish and wildlife habitat and water quality downstream of the body of water.)

6. The contention during a recent public meeting that alewife passage in and out of China Lake will supersede the DEP’s water level and streamflow order currently in place.

Water level orders are set through an extensive regulatory process that considers the potential impacts on the seven criteria listed in #5 above and the level is set to minimize the impacts Water level hearings typically receive testimony from lake and stream abutters, abutting municipalities, associated regulatory bodies, public water systems (if applicable), with input from outside expert witnesses. No one issue is valued over others. In fact, fish passage was not considered in prior lake level hearings for China Lake because it did not exist. If proponents want to get consideration for fish passage into the water level order with the intent to change the order to allow specific changes in the current regime, they will have to make its case to the DEP to hold a rehearing on the current order. Our assumption is that a specific fish passage will have to be proposed that will not greatly impact current protections in place for the other considered criteria in the order. Without going through a water level review process, the water level/streamflow order will not be adjusted.

7. The Outlet Stream dam has been dramatically modified in the past in order to raise the level of China Lake four feet (specifically in the 1960’s).

KWD actually has documentation that indicates there was a dam on the site prior to 1800, with a new dam built in 1817. Since then there have been several ownership changes. We have drawings of the dam made in 1921 by Metcalf and Eddy engineers that depict the dam and gate house structure with associated dimensions and elevations. The dam, spillway, gates and gate house have all received maintenance and rebuilds in the intervening years, but the elevations of the spillway and gates have remained the same in 2016 and they were in 1921. In addition, KWD has collected lake levels readings throughout the period from 1905-2016. Although the lake varies in elevation over the course of each year due to seasonal fluctuations, there has been no change in the structural elevations or the average lake level during that period, much less a 4 foot difference. All rebuilding processes were extremely careful to keep the spillway elevation to within a close tolerance to the original.

Jeff LaCasse
Kennebec Water District
11.22.16

by Danny W. Howard

Now I know there are some folks out there who, for some reason, think that I have the tendency to stretch the truth every now and again. I don’t hardly know where they got that from. Why I say about half of what I write is the gospel truth, and if it ain’t may lightning strike me down where I stand – that’s funny. I thought I just heard some thunder.

Now, you take what happened to me one day last summer. I was out mowing the lawn with my old lawnmower. Now I have to state that my lawn is perhaps the best cared for bunch of crab grass, dandelions, and assorted weeds in nearly the whole state of Maine. Though I should think there are others out there who would make a like claim.

I had, over the years, tried to smooth over some of the rough spots in my lawn that were made by bulldozers, dump trucks and those places where the snowplow digs into the ground before and after the ground freezes and thaws.

I must say I think I did a good job of it – except this one spot over by the pair of pear trees that one of my neighbors gave me back in – let’s see 19–, 1980-something.Wow, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?

Well, anyway, like I was saying, I had the lawn pretty much leveled off except this one little spot about, say 20 feet around out there by them pair trees. It had waist high weeds and those hardhack bushes. They were called hardhack bushes because they were hard to hack.

Well, I was running my old lawnmowers over the area when I noticed the handles of the lawnmower were growing up over my head. Now, I want to tell ya – I thought that was a mighty strange thing for an old lawnmower to be doing, so I stopped my mowing for a while to investigate the situation. To my relief I found that the handles weren’t growing but I was standing in a hole that seemed to be getting deeper by the second. The ground came shooting right by my eye balls as I dropped into the aforementioned hole. Now, as I recall it, I must have reached the bottom of this hole a whole half second later, because that’s when I felt this rather sharp pain in my feet. Now this pain traveled up my legs and made an impression on my knees. And then tried to dislocate my hips from the rest of my body before distributing the pain throughout my body before exiting through every one of my hair tips. Where the pain went after that I didn’t know, I kind of lost interest at that point.

As near as I could figure out, I had found the old well that the deed said was on the property when we bought the land from that old couple almost 20-, no, 40 years ago.

So, here I am at the bottom of a, oh, I guess 20-foot hole, with bits of rotten wood, rocks, dust and clumps of dirt falling on my head – from the top of the hole.
My first concern was if I was still alive, I moved and found out that I was indeed alive, the dead don’t feel pain, so I am told, I can’t imagine how they reached that conclusion. What did they do, kick a dead person, and he didn’t say “Ouch!?”

I was standing up and touched the rocks that made up the walls of this well, that I was at the bottom. I figured my chances of getting out of this well were as great as having fallen into it in the first place. So, I started hollering to my wife. Now, at this point, I’ve changed her name to protect the innocent. “Susan—Susan—Suussaann,” I calmly hollered. Susan (my wife’s name for this story) comes to the hole and looks down, sending more rocks, dirt, pieces of rotten boards and grass clumps down on me.

“Oh, there you are, dinner’s ready! What’re doing down there? Do you need some help? Do you want me to call the fire department?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for asking. And, at the moment, I am not hungry. I fell, yes, I need help and no, don’t you dare call the fire department! And, please, step away from the edge. Can you get me the ladder?”

“I think I’d better call the fire department.”

“No!. No fire department.” Now, as an afterthought, as much as I hate to admit it, calling the fire department would have been a good idea, in fact, a great idea.

But I am getting ahead of the story.

So, she gets the ladder. “I better tie a rope on the ladder so I can pull it up if this doesn’t work,” she said.

Her concern for my well-being was, I thought, touching. After much pushing and pulling, plus a few wheelbarrows full of rotten boards, rocks, dirt and clumps of grass down on my head, I had the ladder down the well and what I thought was fairly solid ground at the bottom of the well.

Fire department? Who needs the fire department, as I started up the ladder out of my tomb – er, well. As I was climbing up the ladder I noticed a pretty shaped rock. I thought, Gee, I’ve come up the ladder at least four rungs and this same rock is still at eye level. It was at this point that I realized the ladder was sinking into the bottom of the well. The ladder suddenly stopped with a jar, as it seemed that my wife had the forethought to tie the rope to something solid at the surface.

She looked down at me and said something like, “Hang on, honey, I’ll get you out!”

I’m thinking, now how is she going to get me out of this well while I’m holding on to the ladder? Then, I heard the van start up.

I realized what she had in mind and calmly yelled, “No, not that – stop, before you kill me!”

Those words had no sooner left my lips when I shot out of the well with the ladder in tow – somehow the ladder had managed to shoot out of the well most of its length with only about four or five feet still in the well. The ladder was bending toward the ground. I was calmly shouting to my wife to stop before the rope broke, but my voice was being drowned out by the roar of the van and the spinning tires on the gravel driveway. Why, there was so much noise that I hardly heard the rope break and zap by my left ear.

At this point, things started to happen rather quickly so if I get mixed up, please forgive me.

After the rope broke, the bend in the ladder straigthened up in a hurry, throwing me first into the straightening ladder with just enough force to jar a few of my fillings loose in my teeth. The bad news is that I lost my grip on the ladder that was just beginning its spring in the opposite direction from what I was traveling.
That threw me nearly over the pear tree. Its upper-most branches doing their best to catch me. I guess it must have slowed me down enough for the black raspberry bushes to break my fall. I painfully laid there for my thoughts to catch up with me. As I took note of my injuries, I noticed a sharp pain between my eyes. I felt my forehead. It had been replaced by a rather large goose egg. That was most likely caused by me hitting the ladder as it sprung backwards.

My wife came running over to see if there was any damage done to the ladder, then asked if I was OK.

“Peaches and cream,” I said, “now help me up.”

Well, after all of that, she reached down and helped me up, and wouldn’t you know it, she starts giggling.

“This—is—not—funny!” I said.

“Yes (giggle) it—is (giggle),” she giggled.

Now, you know why I didn’t want the fire department here. It’s bad enough my wife – but the whole town?

Then, I remembered something very important that came to mind that I wanted to tell my wife. It came to mind when I was flying over the pear tree. I said to her, “You get the keys to the van?”

“Why yes, they’re right here,” she said.

“Give them to me!”

“Why, are you going somewhere?” as she handed me the keys.

“No, I ain’t going anywhere now,” as I put the keys in my pocket.

She started to giggling again.

“Women!”

I started to get the ladder and the rope together, and tied one end of the ladder and the other end to the pair tree. I then placed the ladder back down the well.

“What are you doing,” my wife asked. She wasn’t giggling anymore.

“I am going down to look around,” I answered.

“Why?”

“Aren’t you the least bit interested as to why they covered over the well like that?” I asked.

“No.”

“Well, I am,” I said.

She looked at my head and the goose egg that was there, and said, ”I think you got whacked harder than you think.”

“I’m OK, now be a dear and get me the flashlight.”

All of this activity had gotten the attention of my next door neighbor and he came over.

“You know if you’re going down there you ought to have a backup for that flashlight. I’ve got some road flares – I’ll go and get tone,” he said. He returned in a few minutes and handed me the flare.

“What you do it take off the cap and strike it like a match.”

OK, take off the cap and strike it like a match, got it.

“And be sure to strike it away from your face.”

“Away from the face. Got it.”

I went down the ladder with the flashlight and the backup road flare.

Down at the bottom of the well, I noticed another layer of boards covering a hole. I pulled away some rotten boards and noticed there was a cave there. Well, a big crack in the ledge. I got into the crack and did some looking around. At that point the flashlight starts to fade I can’t see three feet in front of me, so I grabbed the flare and pulled off the cap. When I was ready to strike it, I heard this noise, like a flock of birds all taking off at once. All at once the cave is full of bats – in what seemed a mad rush to leave the cave – like rats off a sinking ship. Mmmmm, I go.

At about the same time, my next door neighbor tells my wife something about methane gas in caves down south, but I didn’t think that’ll be a problem this for no – BOOM!

I guess I was wrong, as he picks himself up, and helped my wife get up.

The rocks, dirt and clumps of grass that were thrown out of the well had settled down by the time they got to the edge of the wall and looked down.

“Are you OK?” they asked.

“What?” I could see their lips moving, but no sound.

“Oh, my God,” she told me later. I looked down that well and saw you leaning against the wall of the well, and she asked herself, “Why did I take off my shirt? Then, I realized you didn’t have any hair on your head. I thought maybe you didn’t ‘take’ your shirt off. I’ll go and get you some pants.”

Well, long story short, we fixed up the entrance cleaned away the loose dirt and rocks and sold tickets to what would become the Mammoth Cave of the North.

Now, like I said, most of this is true – of course, I may have exaggerated bits and pieces here nd there just to make the story more interesting, but may lightning strike me down if this ain’t the truth.

Mmmm, must be a storm coming. I think I just heard some thunder.

Danny Howard is a resident of Augusta.

by Roland D. Hallee

Don’t ask why or how, but last week, while gathered with friends, I was asked a question about ferrets. Not knowing that much about them, I decided to look into it.

What I discovered about the little furry animals was most interesting.

Although I know a few people who have had ferrets as pets, I didn’t realize they were the third most popular pet, behind only dogs and cats. They are popular, although often controversial. My wife and I have a pet, nearly 10-year-old, Holland lop rabbit. I would have bet, if I were a gambling man, and based on conversations with a multitude of people who care for them, that rabbits were more popular than ferrets.

Ferrets have the size and shape of a zucchini, and are related to European polecats. They are not to be confused with skunks which are sometimes colloquially called polecats, but related more to wolverines, ermines, minks and weasels.

The ancient Greeks probably domesticated ferrets about 2,500 years ago to hunt vermins. The practice spread across Europe, especially with sailors who used ferrets on ships to control rats. Ferrets were introduced to America in the 1700s.

A 1490 painting by Leonardo da Vinci named Lady with an Ermine, actually shows her holding a ferret.

Ferrets are carnivores, meaning they eat only meat. According to the American Ferret Association, domesticated ferrets typically eat factory-made chow. A healthy diet for pet ferrets consist of 36 percent protein, 20 percent fats and is low in carbohydrates. A healthy ferret will sleep up to 18 hours a day.

Male ferrets are known as hobs and females are called jills. In the wild, hobs and jills mate around March and April. Following a gestation period of 35 – 45 days, a jill will give birth to one to six kits. Kits will stay with the mother for about a month and a half, leaving the mother as autumn approaches. They become sexually active at one year old. In captivity ferrets can live up to 12 years, but the actual life expectancy is 7-10 years.

Unlike dogs, ferrets have not yet been rigorously studied when it comes to social cognition. According to Hungarian researchers, their early history in service to man is obscure, but have probably been domesticated for more than 2,000 years through selective breeding. Like dogs, ferrets were originally bred for practical reasons like hunting. However, their role within human society has since shifted, as they are now predominantly pets.

Most ferrets will live happily in social groups. A group of ferrets is commonly referred to as a “business.” They are territorial, like to burrow, and prefer to sleep in an enclosed area.

Ferrets can release their anal gland secretions when startled or scared, but the smell is much less potent than a skunk’s and dissipates rapidly. Most pet ferrets in the U.S. are sold de-scented (anal glands removed).

When excited, ferrets may perform a behavior commonly called the weasel war dance, characterized by a frenzied series of sideways hops, leaps and bumping into nearby objects. Despite its common name, this is not aggressive but is a joyful invitation to play. It is often accompanied by a soft clucking noise, commonly referred to as “dooking.” Conversely, when frightened, ferrets will make a hissing noise; when upset, they will make a soft ‘squeaking’ noise.

Although most domesticated ferrets were introduced by Europeans, there is only one that is native to North America. It is the black-footed ferret, and its existence is in trouble. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to use unmanned aerial drones to rain peanut-butter laced pellets down on northeast Montana, where the ferrets reside. The pellets contain a vaccine against the plague, which is common in prairie dogs. Prairie dogs consist of 90 percent of the ferret’s diet. As Americans moved west, prairie dog eradication programs and agriculture and development removed much of the ferrets’ prey and habitat, and by 1987 only 18 of the ferrets remained.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species categorizes black-footed ferrets as endangered. There are currently only around 206 mature adults in the wild and their population is decreasing. This is due greatly to the prairie dog population decline since prairie dogs are a major food and shelter source for wild ferrets. They will also eat small mammals such as opossums, rabbits, hedgehogs and rodents, but prairie dogs are the fare of choice.

So, by feeding the prairie dogs with the vaccine they would stay healthy, which in turn would help the black-footed ferrets.

So, domesticated ferrets don’t have it all that bad, like dogs and cats.